Monthly Archives: September 2014

Jordan Rossiter first joined Liverpool’s youth system at age six and eleven years later he made a dream debut for the first team squad in Tuesday’s Capital One Cup third round match against Middlesbrough. Rossiter’s 30 yard strike from distance was on a low laying rope from fate when he pounced on Rickie Lambert’s rebounded shot.

“It was brilliant. I’m made up,” said Rossiter in the Liverpool Echo. “To score on my debut, I couldn’t have asked for any more. It’s a dream come true to be honest.”

“I got told by the manager at training on Monday that I’d be starting. I was a bit shocked but I couldn’t wait to get out here.”

When the ball hit the net in the 11th minute, it spelled relief not only for the fans at Anfield, but the pressure on the shoulders of a 17 year old lad. The joy on Rossiter’s face when he scored was a well welcomed highlight for LFC fans. When he celebrated and jumped in the air, it seemed like he may never land. Rossiter put in a solid 79 minutes of play before being substituted to a well deserved round of applause from the Anfield faithful.

“I was a bit nervous but playing with some of the best players in the world helped,” said Rossiter. “I was speaking to a few of the senior players before kick-off who just told me to enjoy it. It was a great opportunity for me and they helped me through.”

The emotion on Rossiter’s face was priceless. It reminded me why I love this game. At age 17 I was listening to punk rock, questioning authority and staring university right in the eyes. At 17, Rossiter became Liverpool’s second youngest scorer behind Michael Owen. Rossiter has a solid future of Anfield within his grasps. Not to get too hyped up on the lad early… we have seen plenty of promising young starlets come and go through Liverpool’s Academy. We can only hope what we have seen of this kid is a sign of things to come.

“I can’t even explain it. I can’t even remember what happened,” Rossiter said. “I’m looking forward to getting home and watching it on the TV. To score at Anfield is just a great feeling.”

“I thought he was excellent, showed really good composure, his temperament was good and he followed up the finish really well, because it wasn’t an easy one, he had to play it through bodies,” Rodgers said in a Sky Sports interview.

There are so many topics of discussion, disappointment and news hitting the wire about our beloved Liverpool. Liverpool’s surprise struggle to hit the net until the last moment against Ludogrets in our Champions League debut. Let’s try to put the struggle to find the goal against Aston Villa after Gabriel Agbonlahor’s goal at Anfield (even though we dominated possession) behind us. West Ham United last weekend…. ugh… enough said. Liverpool’s goal struggles continued against Middlesbrough (until the penalty kicks, of course). Sadly, now the recent reports that LFC was named as one of the squads by the UEFA financial fair play investigation. Just for today, let’s put our worries on hold and focus on the young lad that had goal number one in Liverpool’s 14-13 win over Boro.

“I know I need to keep my feet on the ground and keep on improving. If I do that then hopefully I’ll get more appearances in the future,” said Rossiter.

With Liverpool’s match against Everton this weekend, we should mention that Rossiter grew up in the Everton Valley and actually was a childhood Everton fan. Before you break out the torches, so were Jamie Carragher, Robbie Fowler and Ian Rush. Speaking of Fowler… God was the first person to say that Rossiter had the potential to be the next Steven Gerrard, after he watched him in the 2013 NextGen series against Inter Milan.

“Five years is a long time, probably too long,” Brendan Rodgers said at Monday’s pre-match press conference.

After an extremely disappointing loss to Aston Villa at Anfield over the weekend, this week was the long awaited return for Liverpool to the European Champions League. Five years have passed since the midweek felt this good for a Liverpool fan.

“We want to be at the elite level and the Champions League is that,” said Rodgers

Hopping onto Twitter on Tuesday, former Liverpool player Luis Garcia summed up most Liverpool fan’s emotions from morning until match end on Tuesday in three consecutive tweets.

“Morning everybody. Champions League is Back at Anfield!”
Tuesday Liverpool’s long awaited return to the European Champions League was a roller coaster of emotions as Ludogorets proved quite a difficult puzzle for Brendan Rodgers to solve. Here you had five time champions of Europe at home at Anfield, going deep into the second half before scoring the first goal.

“#Sangriasong at Anfield… The goals are coming!!!”
The game seemed to be destined for a draw or heartbreaking 1-0 match when Mario Balotelli opened his account for LFC with his first goal on the Kop end. Like in every movie, you never take your finger off the trigger when standing over an adversary. Liverpool’s joy was silenced when Ludogorets equalized when Abalo was able to take advantage of Simon Mignolet off his line.

“Get in theeeeere!!!!! Those are captain Fantastic moments.”
Thankfully you cannot stop fate, as a last minute mistake by Ludogorets keeper Milan Borjan’s stoppage time foul on Javier Manquillo drew the penalty needed for Gerrard to slot home his 40th European goal matters at the end of the match… results. After the match, Gerrard reached out to the fans and Balotelli on his Instagram account with these match and candid photos congratulating Balotelli on his first LFC goal.

From Luis Garcia to Steven Gerrard, engaging on social media is an awesome way to follow your favorite Liverpool players and fans. Even catch a glimpse of candid images we would never normally see. We are celebrating the result, but the ECL tournament continues. If LFC played like this against Ludogorets, how do you think there chances are against Real Madrid when they face each other? Especially after Real Madrid just dropped 5-1 against Basel. Liverpool has a lot of work to do. But as we all know… this match is over, time to move forward. #WeGoAgain What do you think LFC’s chances are of getting out of their group? Let us know at the Anfield Shop via Social Media by tagging us at @AnfieldShop & @AnfieldShopBlog plus use the hashtag #AnfieldShop

Liverpool FC was ready to take the momentum from last month’s 3-0 victory over Tottenham, but a week of International duty has LFC fans moaning what happened this past week. I know it was for Euro 2016 qualifiers and to represent England is a great honor, so it is not something that is going away. As much as I was loving International football over the summer with World Cup, this past week reminded me of why I loathe the International break.

The Good…

Danny Welbeck was grateful to be on the field with Raheem Sterling and Rickie Lambert, as opposed to the times he’s lined up against them for Arsenal. England over Switzerland in Basel 2-0. Sterling was brilliant. He threatened to score twice and had a sweet assist from the left to the Gunners’ Danny Welbeck in the 58th. Lambert was brought on for Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney in the 90th and displayed great vision by finding Welbeck in stoppage time with a clever through ball.

The Bad…

Some might be thinking that Roy Hodgson may still be holding some kind of grudge after losing the post at Anfield after two of our key players got injured under his watch. (I know it is not entirely Hodgson’s fault, but let me rant here… haha.) When reports of Henderson Jordon receiving a knock and limping off with an ankle injury on Sunday hit the wire, Liverpool fans already dealing with Daniel Sturridge’s injury last week were asking, “What next?” That was all before Hendo featured a full 90 in his England duties. So it wasn’t completely bad.

The Ugly

The injury that Sturridge received last Friday in training will keep him out for up to three weeks. Certainly missing this weekend’s match versus Aston Villa, Liverpool’s return to the Champion’s League next week, Sturridge is now in a race to get his hamstring fit in time for the derby versus Everton. Ugly indeed.

Do you think Liverpool will be able to handle the next few weeks without Sturridge? Pressure is almost certainly on Mario Balotelli to help with the goals tally over the next few weeks. Let us know at the Anfield Shop via Social Media by tagging us at @AnfieldShop & @AnfieldShopBlog plus use the hashtag #AnfieldShop